CelestialGryphon

iTrader: (1)

Howdy folks, my name is Adrian, and I have a rotary. A little back story - I come from a background of project cars, professional tom-foolery and boosted euro sedans, so I'm no stranger to weird estoric engines. Two years ago I had two FC's, a GTU and a base FC. No stranger to the RWD Game either, I've had a Porsche 924 and a 928, and for any of you Euro guys you know that the 928 is a very strange bird indeed. Unfortunately the FC's never ran, I either ran out of time, or money to get both of them going so I had to sell them and shelve the dreams of a rotary for a later time. Life happened, I had to sell the 924 while my wife was out of work to keep up on bills. Recently, my wife came into some money after her dad passed away and decided that after we'd caught up on bills and gotten her back into college she'd repay me by buying me a new summer toy! The only caveat was a limited budget and it had to be in good running shape. So I looked at Porsche's, RX7's (Which lord knows a running Turbo II is apparently ungodly expensive) and other fun RWD summer cars for the warm Colorado months. I found a Green '04 RX8 here locally but it had been hooned and there were some title issues, so I decided I'd look and see what I could find out of state.

My brother happens to be a mechanic on the east coast, and I decided I'd start my search in Baltimore. About half hour south of where he lives he found an '05 Base RX8, Nothing fancy with 71k on the clock and in need of a new cat and some love. As of 1100 MST I'm now the owner of an 05 RX8. I'll apologize now as the only photos I have of the car are from the advertisment from craigslist, but it's a good looking car from his inspection and surprisingly no rust from what he said after getting it on a lift. I think I made a killing price-wise, as it costs me a whopping $3800. From what I understand it's getting a fresh oil change, and new fluids all around and plugs as well. So, hopefully with some new plugs, a new cat as apparently the one it has currently is a little on the dead side, some fluids and a little love I'll have a great summer car until the engine decides it's time to take a break, then it'll probably get turned into scary turbo monster of doom. Unless the wife cuts off my purse strings.

Anyway, Photos! Apologies in advance for the quality, they are all I have right now, I'll be picking the car up in the next month or so after my brother has had a chance to go over it. As far as modifications go, Honestly probably just going to open the exhaust, throw on an intake, maybe get it a tune for the 5280 altitude but beyond that just service and enjoy in the summer. Oh, it'll need shocks and struts by the end of the summer too - Nothing too hard, I've got a bad back but I'm open to suggestions.









This is an older photo of her stable-mate, my current daily driver.

I look forward to chatting with you guys, getting tips and tricks on keeping her running, and yeah, looks like a solid community you've got here! I'll read through the faqs and make sure I'm keeping up with what needs to be done as I run into things.

Thanks, Nice to meet you all!

gwilliams6

First congratulations ! Did your brother get a rotary-specific engine compression test BEFORE you bought it?

That is a must to really know the health of your engine. Your bargain price will disappear if you have to replace a failing engine.

Please read this new owners thread if you haven't already. It explains a lot of what you need to know.

https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-f...t-here-202454/

Here are the items you need to deal with, depending on your mileage.

RX8 Club’s recommended maintenance schedule, more comprehensive and proactive than Mazda’s schedule.
30,000 miles:
- Replace Ignition coils
- Replace Plug wires
- Replace Spark plugs
- Clean MAF (mass air flow sensor)
- Clean ESS (e-shaft sensor)
- Reset ESS profile
- Clean power steering connections
- Clean battery terminals and clamps
- Replace transmission fluid
- Replace coolant (Mazda FL-22 is highly recommended)
- Replace air filter
- Replace brake fluid (fluid in the brake lines AND the clutch line)
~$300 USD in parts if you shop smartly.


every 60,000:
...all 30,000, plus...
- Clean all chassis electrical grounding points
- Replace accessory belts
- Clean OMP lines
- Replace rear differential fluid
- Replace thermostat
- Clean / Straighten AC condenser fins
- Clean / Straighten oil cooler fins
- Inspect catalytic converter
- Clean / Inspect intake valving
- Consider / inspect all points in 90,000+ as well, many items fail early
~$130 USD in parts if you shop smartly.

90,000:
...all 30,000, plus any 60,000 not yet done, plus...
- Replace coolant bottle
- Replace radiator hoses
- Replace radiator
- Replace front O2 sensor
- Replace motor mounts
- Inspect clutch pedal assembly for flex / weld breaks
~$900 USD in parts if you shop smartly.
At 100k, anything original in the cooling system is really suspect and failure prone. It represents the biggest threat to your engine.
__________________

CelestialGryphon

iTrader: (1)

Mr. Williams! I've actually been lurking and reading your posts on other newbie posts, but thanks for the updated addendum info. As far as compression goes, it's currently on the list of things. Right now it's getting new brakes and some sensors replaced, 02 and the like. I'm also going to go ahead andhave him redo the cooling system as well while he's got it in his posession, along with plugs and fluid changes across the board. I'm getting used to the idea that I'm going to have to become competent with tools again, thankfully I've got a competent local mechanic as well, so I'll take the bigger jobs to him. Are swaybar endlinks an issue with this car? Apparently both rears were broken, so either it was driven hard or whoever drove it last didn't realize they were blown.

In the event of a dying or blown engine, the plan is to yank it out and go turbo with fast wooshing noises. The only real issue there is gonna be doing emmissions on it. Today I'm doing all the fun fun inter-state DMV stuff, and if it passes all the tests with flying colours, then I'll hopefully be driving it home to Colorado with a buddy of mine. Maybe I'll stop through some other member's cities on the way, if I can!

Currently, the car's sitting at this lovely place While my brother is the maniac banging on a rim with a hammer. I think it's in good hands.

Gravey

iTrader: (3)

Welcome and really if money is precious to you, you really should just stick with the stock intake. It will serve you well... other intakes are known to actually cost you money, and cause you problems... in fact there are really only 2 known good intakes that result in a... wait for it.... whopping 2 HP gain... these are the mazdaspeed/AEM intake, or the racing beat REVi intake.

The exhaust will net you a measly 3.5 HP gain, the engineers squeezed all the juice out of this system so really the only modifications that are the most beneficial have to do with maintaining health, cooling, preventing carbon build up in the cat (AKA cat delete! ) and maintaining the coils.

If it was me, I would replace coils, plugs, wires. Do an emissions test (if required for transfer of ownership) with the existing catpipe then buy a catless one from BHR, or even better find a used one on here in the for sale section. then work on suspension mods as you mentioned.

Anyways welcome to the club!

Dominarian

You had to Gravey..

Me personally, I love the **** out of my AEM intake. And all the other stuff I've very carefully selected to put on my 8.

Gravey

iTrader: (3)

Of course Dom! and for what it's worth you actually have one of the good ones! and really I suppose intakes mods are mostly for sound anyways right? and I'm sure yours sounds delicious!!!

Besides the intake, I pretty much described all of your mods there didn't I?

Dominarian

I can't hear it over the exhaust to be honest.. That or it just blends really well.

And no, not quite

CelestialGryphon

iTrader: (1)

Unfortunately, I don't live in one of the cool non emissions testing parts of Colorado. So, cats I have to have.

Gravey

iTrader: (3)

Correction, cats you have to have for inspection...

04Green

iTrader: (1)

Welcome,

Nice car, sounds like you have a good plan. There are a few more things suggested in the congrats thread below, mostly cleaning stuff.

i am running a turbo XS catted mid pipe hooked up to a Racing beat exhaust. Good sound, good flow, no CEL. The XS exhaust was just too damn loud, and the car it was on was totaled (she litterly hit the exhaust pipe). I kept the cat, went for a quieter exhaust.

And, welcome.

Nisaja

Welcome to the club man! Congrats on the purchase. She looks clean. Have fun

CelestialGryphon

iTrader: (1)

This week's update - The rear springs are both broken on the car, so that means that while it's in the shop the 8's gonna get a full suspension update, because why not. Brakes are done, and to help deter theft as we've had a few more than I like here lately we've gone ahead with a Quick Release and a sweet new wheel in the Forsberg signature line. Neat stuff. On order is a Cat to throw in the trunk for the drive home, while my brother builds a decat pipe so we can at least get it to CO without any issues, along with a new thermostat, radiator hoses and corresponding cooling system work. When I get a chance to pick up the car I'll slap some updated photos of it on here.

CelestialGryphon

iTrader: (1)

Alright folks, so we did something ballsy and drove 1700 miles home from Baltimore to Colorado, with, surprisingly zero issues until we hit the CO/Kansas lines and the altitude started eating at us, between that and the 100+ Degree heat, she stayed cool but was still grumbly. Have installed an AEM intake, but was wondering if going with Bigger radiator wouldn't be a miss? My brother's had great luck with the CXracing stuff, but I'd be willing to shell out for mishimoto with shrouds if you guys stand by it.


Also, might get around to doing coils as well.